another Opinion In the first place I will lay down for an infallible Truth That never any Protestant i. e. a Son of the Church of England did ever draw his Sword against the King or any other their Sovereign Prince since the Reformation begun by King Henry the Eighth Caco Oh Monstrum horrendum Sure you do not believe what you say Ortho. Yes and I 'le prove what I say thus That the late Rebels Cromwel your Friend President Bradshaw and the rest of those that were of their Party were not Protestants that is they were not Sons of the Church of England you may as well call those People Royalists as Protestants or Sons of the Church of England Did they not overthrow the Hierarchy of the Church as well as Monarchy How then can you call them Protestants When indeed they do not deserve without a great deal of Charity the name of Men so Monstrous were their Actions Thus much to vindicate Protestants whose Tenet is this that if their Sovereign were a Tyrant and a Turk which our Sovereign is far from I thank God yet in such a case we allow of no other Arms than what the Primitive Christians did use against their Persecutors that is Prayers and Tears Caco Thus far I confess you have well proved that Protestants in a strict sense so called i. e. true Sons of the Church of England may be very good Subjects and that if they deviate from their Lovalty to their Sovereign it is not from any ill Principle in their Relâ—gion which they suck in with their Milk and that such deviations do rather proceed from the ill Principles of Sin and frailties of humane Nature All this I acknowledge for a great truth but what have you to say against Papists that they should not be as good Subjects as any the best Protestants in the World Ortho. In a word the Rebellion of Ireland accompanied with an universal Massacre without all distinction of Ages and Sexes which as it preceeded the Rebellion of England so did it also exceed it in Inhumanity and Bloodshed and for ought I know might occasion the English Rebellion Caco I did expect no less from you who are so great an assertor of the Protestants so much an adversary to the Papists and so Loyal to the Prince but all this while I hear nothing of any Principle in the Popish Religion that should lead them into such horrid actions which I do by no means justifie Ortho. Have patience and I shall give enough of that you know what our Saviour said No man can serve two Masters which possibly might be a Prophecy of the Popes Sovereignty over the Kings and Protentates of the World How can the Papists serve God Honor the King which two are but one in reality and Serve Worship and Obey the Pope for he is as our Saviour says the other Master Caco Well enough for the Pope as the Papists tell me pretends to no other Soverelgnty but in Spiritualibus Ortho. In Temporalibus also I assure you and yet it is a wonder how an Opinion so Diametrically opposite to the truth of God delivered in the Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Antients both Councils and Fathers should ever get up among such as profess Christianity And surely were not the Interests of the Court of Rome in greater esteem than the truths of the Gospel and the Peace of the Catholick Church it were not possible that your Popes should be so presumptuous as to assume this Power or the Doctors of Rome so impudent as to assert it For to enlarge a little on this particular of such concernment to the peace of the Church and all Christendom Is it not St. Peter's Exhortation 1. Pet. 2.13 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake to the King as Supreme and St. Paul is of the same mind Rom. 13.1 Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers and v. 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for Conscience sake and St. Chrysostom's gloss upon the Text answers all your pretences against this truth Etiamsi Apostolus sis c. Although you be an Apostle or an Evangelist or a Prophet yet you must be subject And such was St. Paul's own practice He submits himself to the judgment of Felix Acts 24 and to Festus and from him Acts 25. makes his appeal to Caesar Appellatio autem non nisi ad legitimum sit judicem And this incontroulable Power did the Primitive Christians acknowledge in their Emperors and submit to it though Heathens Hereticks and Persecutors Athanasius being unjustly banished from Alexandria where he was Bishop by Constantius and afterwards falsly accused of Disobedience to his Decree makes this mild defence to him though an Arian and a Persecutor Epist ad Constantium Nequaquam restiti mandatis tuae Pietatis c. I no way resisted the Commands of your Piety neither shall I ever endeavor to enter into Alexandria till your Piety give me leave And thus St. Augustin in Psal 128. Apostata erat Julianus iniquus Idololatra milites tamen Christiani servierunt Imperatori c. Julian was an Apostate a wicked Man an Idolater yet the Christians obeyed him When it concern'd the cause of Christ then indeed they acknowledged him only that was in Heaven but when the Emperour commanded other things they obeyed him I may also ask by what Law the Pope can challenge this Power to himself to dispose of the Temporal Affairs or Estates of Princes Not by any human Law for the Prince is above the coactive or coercive Power of humane Laws solo Deo minor If by Divine Law let him shew any Text of Scripture or Tradition of the Apostle surely they are both against it The weapons of our Warfare saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 10. are not carnal but Spiritual and our Saviour determines against it Mat. 20.25.26 The Princes of the Gentiles exerise Dominion and Authority over them but it shall not be so among you Hence St. Hicrom Epist 3. ad Heliodor speaking of the King and the Bishop saith Ille nolentibus praeest hic volentibus The King hath Power over the refractory and disobedient the Bishop over such as are willing to obey him His Power compulsory the Bishops but precarious And thus the second General Nicene Council Act 3. discoursing of the Regal and Sacerdotal Power speaks to the same purpose Sacordos Coelestiâ— curat Rex autem legibus aequis justis omma quae in terris siunt procurat The Priest takes care for what may bring us to Heaven The King by just and equitable Laws orders all Affairs on Earth And this is answerable to the terms and boundaries of both powers which we see appointed by Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 19.11 Ananias the chief Friest is over you in all matters of the Lord and Zebadiah the Ruler or Prince for all the Kings matters If therefore the King be over all and orders all
THE JESUITES POLICY TO Suppress Monarchy Proving out of their own WRITINGS THAT THE Protestant Religion IS A SURE FOUNDATION AND PRINCIPLE OF A True Christian Written by a Person of Honor. LONDON Printed for William Cademan at the Pope's Head in the Lower Walls of the New-Exchange 1678. To all Supreme Powers by what Titles soever Dignified or Distinguished i. e. To Emperors Kings Sovereign Princes Re-publicks c. TO You Gods Vice-gerents on Earth over all Persons whether Ecclesiastical or Temporal next under god within Your own respective Dominions Supreme Governors I conceive fittest to Dedicate and Direct the ensuing Papers to You Most Illustrious they address themselves as to persons most concern'd in the Subject they treat about whereby is endeavored the Vindication of Gods Honor wherein as his Vice-gerents You are highly concern'd also Your own Supreme Powers and Authorities which in former Ages and yet still in the Doctrinal part have been often Invaded by the Bishop of Rome and their Abettors amongst whom the Jesuites have been still in the Front as the principal Champions against You and for those Bishops from whom all Anti-Monarchical Principles have proceeded under the veil and cover of other Religions as Quakers Anabaptists Independents c. which several Sects have been Abetted by several of the Roman Clergy thereunto Authorized and commanded by the Bishops of Rome to prevent a Reformation amongst themselves always a terror to them and the better to dâ—vide the Reformed Churches over the World according to that Maxim Divide Impera whereby they have not a little impeded the Christian Profession in the Inlargement of the Kingdom of Christ and thereby given occasion to the Enemies of God the Turks c. to Blaspheme and enlarge their Dominions and Territories hereby the Isle of Rhodes and Candie has been lost to the Eternal reproach of the Christian Profession for while Christians are disjoyned the common Enemy takes the advantage which by a happy Vnion ho would lose I shall here add a few particulars out of the History of France in the Life of Lewis the Thirteenth Fol. 1295. Vpon occasion of the Murther of Henry the Fourth of France by Ravilliac the words be these This wicked Murtherer confessed no other motive of his crime but the Book of Mariana a Spanish Jesuite which Book by a decree made by the Colledge of Sorbonne and confirmed by a Sentence from the Courts of Parliament was for that cause condemned to be publickly burnt before our Lady Church in Paris the tenor of the Sentence was The Court the great Chamber the Turnelle and the Chamber of the Edict being Assembled having seen the decree of the faculty of Divinity assembled the Fourth of this Month of June according to a Sentence given in May last upon the renewing of the censure in matter of Doctrine made by the said faculty in the Year 1413. Confirmed by the Holy Council of Constance that it is an Heresie full of Impiety to maintain that it is lawful for Subjects or Strangers upon any pretence or cause whatsoever to attempt against the Sacred Person of Kings and Sovereign Princes the Book of John Mariana Intitled De Rege Regis Institutione Printed as well at Mentz as in other places containing many execrable Blasphemies against the Deceased King Henry the Third of most happy Memory the persons and Estates of Kings and Sovereign Princes and other propositions contrary to the said decree upon the conclusion of the Kings Atturney General the matter being propounded the said Court hath and doth ordain that the said decree of the Fourth of this present month of June shall be entered into the Registers thereof and heard at the instance of the Kings Atturny General and read every year on the like day on Sunday in the Parishes of this City and Suburbs of Paris it doth also ordain that the Book of Mariana shall be burnt by the Executioner of Justice before our Lady Church in Paris forbidding all men of what Estates Quality and Condition soever they be upon pain of High Treason to write or cause any Books to be Printed against the said Decree and Sentence it doth also enjoyn that Copies taken out of the Originals of the said Decree and this present Sentence shall be sent unto the Bailewicks and Seneshaushes of this Jurisdiction there to be read and published after the accustomed manner and form And moreover at Evensong in Parishes in Towns Suburbs and other Burroughs the first Sunday of June enjoyning all Bayliffs and Seneshalls to proceed to the said publication and the substitutes of the Kings Atturny General to have a care of the Execution and to certifie the Court of their Diligence Vpon A Declaration or Letter from one Cotton the Jesuite to the Queen Regent to wipe off that Aspersion from their Society An Answr is framed unto it by the name of Anti-Cotton which you will find in Fol. 1298. The words be as follow Anti-Cotton the Doctrine of Jesuites for Murthering Kings Francis Ribadinera writing of the parricide of James Clement he saith forasmuch as the resolution Henry the Third took upon him was the advice of a Polititian and a Machiavilist not conformable to the rules of our Saviour behold the reason that by the judgment of God the said Henry was kill'd by a young Monk and dyed by the stroke of a Knife Carolus Scribanius a Flemish Jesuite who calls himself Clarus Bonarscius in his Book Entituled Amphitheatrum honoris sayes that if it so fall out that a Denis a Machonidas or an Aristotimus Monsters of their Age oppress France shall not the Pope have absolute power to animate against them some Dion Timoleon or Philâ—poemen that is to say tamers and suppressers of Monsters And afterwards speaking of a Tyrant wasting France will no man sayes he take Armes against that Tyrant wasting France Will no Pope set free that Noble Kingdom from the stroke of the Axe He cites Bellarmine who although he condemneth Treason against Princes yet in ambiguous terms he seems to approve it by commending Garnet the Jesuite in these words Wherefore was Henry Garnet a man unmatchable in all kinds of Learning and Holiness of Life so punished in the highest Degree but only for that he would not detect that which with a safe conscience he could not And the same Author in his Book De Pontifice Romano sayes the Pope may dispose of Kingdoms taking from one and giving to another as being the Superior Prince Ecclesiastical and the Jesuite Gretzer sayes we are not such Dastards as that we fear to affirm openly that the Pope of Rome may if necessity so require free his Catholick Subjects from their Oath of Obedience if their Sovereign intreat them Tyrannically yea he adds in the same place that if the Pope do it discreetly and warily it is a meritorious work after all this he quotes the Doctrine of Tolet Mariana and John Guignard a Jesuite Priest residing in Paris who had written a
cry'd aloud that Jesus was the Son of God that the Arms which Christians may use against Lawful powers in their Severities are only Prayers and Tears Thus far he speaks like a Protestant that is to say a Primitive Christian and it might have stood as a fair Character of his pretended Innocency had he not foully bespattered it in the Sequel with the Dirt he casts upon the face of Authority But first It would be considered what it is the Apologist would be at upon his frequent Compellation of his Lords and Gentlemen is it to draw them to a firm Combination with those of his Roman party against all such as should question the innocency of his Carriage and Intentions Nothing less it seems can satisfie or secure him unless my Lords and Gentlemen that is the old constant Royalists stand up for his Advocate he must fall under the heavy censure of his greatest Adversaries who to complete the mischief and misery of it are not only become his Accusers but his Insulting Judges as he complains And now it is high time for my Lords and Gentlemen to remember their often Vows to that party and Renounce all further Conjunction with them that have been the cause of so great Calamity to the Nation as he there tells them But is not this Davide Impera and though they did not nip the Plant in the Bud yet now being grown up and not likely to answer them in the expected Fruits they will endeavor so to dismember the parts as may manifestly endanger the whole For what else mean those words Let it never be Recorded in Story that you forgot your often Vows to us injoyning to them those insulting Judges as he terms them before that have been the cause of so great Calamity to this Nation Is not a Dis-union here manifestly endeavored and that in direct contradiction to what was before protested far be it from Catholicks to perplex Parliaments To reconcile this difference in the expressions will well become the Apologist before he answer the following Objections which he makes his next task And here first he presents his Catholick Party astonished even to admiration at that Calumny above the rest that their Principles are said to be inconsistent with Government and they themselves thought ever prone to Rebellion as if because they account themselves the only Orthodox Christians they must necessarily be very loyal Subjects at the least Indeed If they could make good the former we had reason to expect some compliance as to the latter Religio à religando seeing Religion hath its name from the Connexion and strick conjunction it works in its Professors as with each other so in all with that government and Governors under which they have their common protection .. But how Orthodox and united Roman Catholicks are in the grounds of their Belief the main Ingredient in the Essence of Religion hath sufficiently appeared in the Writings of many who have unanswerably evinced the nullity of the Romanists Faith whether ultimately resolved into their virtual Church the Pope with his Conclave as the Jesuites will have it or into the representative Church a General Council as others will have it or into both the former conjoyned as others contend or erranti nullus terminus into the new mode of Oval Tradition as it is lately and clamorously urged by others who abominate the former Yet though our Catholicks do thus stagger in the Grounds of their Faith are they not more firm in their Fealties and Loyalties Surely their Principles are every way consisting with the Government under which they live Nothing less and it will plainly appear if we consider the Doctrine of their Church and their frequent practice to the former much need not be said that the Pope the acknowledged Head of their Church hath a plenary power to Excommunicate all Christian Kings that will not close with Papal Perswasion and when they are Excommunicated that they cease to be Kings that their Subjects are absolved from all Fealty and Allegiance to them yea may take up Arms against them and so murder them All this is so notoriously known that as no real Roman Catholick will deny so it were needless to urge further proof of it He that hath leisure may find enough of this Becanus Bellarmine Rossius Molina Campion Stapleton c. in Alvarez Mariana and others that speak expresly enough at this rate and hath it not been sufficiently verified in the Roman Catholicks practice 't is well known who encouraged one Parry to Murther Queen Elizabeth what Pope it was that issued out his dreadful Excommunication animating the Subjects of England against her and if you will allow of Cardinal Perron's positive Sentence he will tell you that that Doctrine which renders Kings indeposable opens a gap to no less than Schism and Heresie and hereby as if it were not only Lawful but necessary to suppress whatever they be that will not Conform to the Popish Hierarchy He that should see a Sovereign Prince holding the Bason whilst the Pope washeth his Hands and another no less Sovereign holding his Stirrup though unfortunately mistaken in the side whilst he mounts up on Horse-back yea he that should see that Bishop of Rome treading on a great Princes neck and abusing that of the Psalmist for justification of his usurped power Super Leonem aspidem c. cannot but conclude that Dominus Deus noster Papa as the Canonists stile him will be Supream Prince of the Christian World and that all other Potentates must limit their Authority and Jurisdiction according to the measure of his Placet And now the Premises considered that upon the Popes excommunication Kings cease to be such and stand lawfully exposed to all insolencies of their Subjects as hath already appear'd I cannot but very much wonder that the Romanists should be so angry with Cromwel Bradshaw and the rest of that hellish Crue for Murthering our late Sovereign of Blessed Memory were they not taught by those Romish Fathers above cited to Murther Charles Stuart and yet not kill the King I dare boldly say that our late Republicarians have not one Tenet that is destructive to Civil Government and the Sovereignty of Kings that was not first broached by the Romanists to whom we owe our late Confusions which hath answered the Predictions of Gondamore the Spanish Embassador who when he returned to Spain gave out that he had kindled a Fire in England which would burst out Forty Years afterwards Not to insist upon those several disguises presented by the Romanists in the late Troubles under the habit of all sorts of Mechanick Artists Soldiers and others so to Preach up and foment the Rebellion with our home-bred Sectarians this may suffice to demonstrate how ill-consistent their Principles are with our English Government and consequently how weakly they acquit themselves of that Calumny they complain of even to Admiration but the Apologist hath his other pretences and
will clear all Objections that may encounter him in his way it will be necessary to take a brief view of them And here first our Author accuseth us with a pretended Submission to Lawful Powers begins then to boast how patiently their party did bear with the proceedings of the present Parliament how they used no tricks and subterfuges to nip their proceedings in the bud this is his expression and I would be glad to know what they could have done more than they did what means he by this nipping in the bud would he have another Gun-Powder Treason to what purpose is all this enumeration of our several Kings Richard the First Edward Longshanks Edward the Third and Henry the Fifth their Opinions of their Popish Subjects in the first place it may be said that were not so clear-sighted as Princes are in these days that the Roman Writers were not altogether so insolent plain and positive against the Sovereignty of Kings as now As for the French Kings they did very roundly maintain their Rights and Sovereignties having been sufficiently tormented by their Popish Subjects in the time of the League that what the Jesuites were inventing to the prejudice of Kings was by cunning and insinuation Writing one thing and making the French Kings believe another as is usual with that kind of people As for the House of Austria they have the greatest dependences upon the Pope imaginable and the Pope hath a very great tie upon that House for by their Incestuous Marriages authorized by the Popes they make it impossible for them to throw off the Authority of the Pope for should they do so all of the Houshold would prove Bastards and now even in these our days the present King of Poland in the life-time of his Brother known by the name of Cardinal Casimir did Marry his said own Brothers Wife and this was the Policy of the Pope with our Henry the Eighth in dispensing with his Marrying his own Brothers Wife that he might have as great Dominion over the Kings of England as of Spain As for the Authors branding this last Century that what was perpetrated now was never done before as to Mary Queen of Scots and Our late Sovereign I very much wonder at the Impudence of the Man to mix these two actions the first was done by Lawful Authority for her being Queen of Scotland did not bereave Queen Elizabeth of her Sovereignty and I have heard it averr'd by Learn'd and knowing Men that the King of Scotland hath sate in an English Parliament in former ages as a Peer of England and then no wonder nor Injustice neither that the Queen of Scotland suffered Death for her Treasons against the Queen As for the latter the Murther of our late Sovereign of Blessed and Glorious Memory the action is without Example such and so hainous a thing was never acted upon the Theatre of the World And as I said before so I will again that the Murther of that good King may properly enough be said to be the abominable product of that accursed Doctrine of the Popes Infallibility and his Sovereignty over Kings for those accursed Regicides and Murtherers of that Glorious King did but a little alter the Argument for that Power which the Romanists lodged in the Pope these wicked Miscreants placed in the People They had heard there was a Power above Kings and instead of giving it to the Pope they gave it to the Peoples Representative and so fell that Great King to the Consternation of the whole World and for a Memento to all Kings to awake them out of their Lethargy and be an Exhortation to them to Vindicate their Supreme Authority We do all of us much commend the Fidelity of Carlos Whitegrave and the Penderels and Huddlestone and this Author is much mistaken if he think we wish any of them ill We have said enough already to evidence that they effected that glorious and happy action happy I say to these Nations through some other instigations than the Principles of the Romish Religion they were led thereto certainly by a hand Divine as well as assigned by it they carried English hearts about them at that time but if they will Apostatize 't is none of my fault for my part I am well content they be dispensed with as a Mark put upon them for their miraculous preserving our Good King As for the stigmatized person I must needs say for him that he labored in the Vineyard before the last hour of the day and was very ready both with Hand and Pen to promote the Interests of the King for his Restauration and therefore that word of reproach might well have been left out That we differ in Religion is but too true and we dare as boldly as your selves appeal to the day of Judgement something you say we differ I say very much else why does Your Church Damn ours But this is not a place either to Dispute about Religion or express wherein we vary We are assured our Religion is the best free from Superstition free from too much homeliness God and the King are best served in our way Our Church is Monarchical as well as yours but still with a Subordination to Our Sovereign Temporal Prince what our great Ancestors were we shall not be ashamed to remember nor the Conversion of England from Paganism which possibly as all the World besides Converted from the like Errors did retain some few Pagan Ceremonies from which the Church of England was purified in the Reformation of Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth He does well to put us in mind of Romish Persecutions Are not we justified thereby if we do the same to you France forsooth is instanced where the Reformed Religion is permitted which I shall leave indifferent whether to attribute that toleration to their vast numbers or to the innocency of their Tenets not at all prejudicial to Kings This I am sure they own no Sovereign above their natural King they have no Forreign Jurisdictions in their Spirituals and as little in their Temporals Let this be remembered they assisted their King Henry the Third against his Popish Rebels even after the Massacre at Paris and Henry the Fourth in his Siege of Paris when the Duke of Parma reliev'd it But as for the French King he is no competent instance in this case had you singled out some Trent-Catholick such our English Catholicks would be acknowledged there had been a fairer colour for your Argument When you have found some Roman Catholick of the Trent-Perswasion allowing the same favours to known Protestants you may more plausibly plead for the like allowance till when by their Inquisitions and such like entertainments of Protestants they have prescribed the Law for other Princes towards those that no less differ from them in matters of Religion We will wave the Massacre at Paris to come nearer home What think you of the Massacre in Ireland As a fore-runner of the Enlish Troubles Was
Temporal Affairs by a supereminent and incoercible Authority none may depose him from or deprive him of his Temporals either directly or indirectly much less the Church or Pope whose Power is meerly Spiritual and therefore the behaviours of your Popes have been Rebellious and Scandalous against Reason and Religion against the Doctrine of the Scriptures and the Practice of the Ancient Christians especially since Gregory the 7th who seems to have been the first assertor and practicant in this intolerable presumption not only excommunicating though that be more than St. Augustine will allow him when he tells us nec Rex nec Multitudo Excommunicandi sunt ut-refert Glass in Mat. 23. but also dethroning and deposing the Emperor Henry the 4th whereof he thus complains Ignominiam sustinco ante inauditam I suffer a disgrace never before heard of Vide Albertum Stadiensem ad Annum 1106. Innocent the Third makes Otho although a Rebel to his Prince Emperor and afterwards deposeth him not because a Rebel but because unprofitable to himself Honorius the Third Excommunicates Frederick the Second and deposeth him which Sentence Gregory the Ninth confirms Innocent the 4th also Of the Pride and cruelty of the Popes against this Emperor Frederick the King of France thus complained as Mat. Paris tells the story in Hen. 3. Quo Spiritu vel ausu temerario Papa With what spirit with what daring rashness did the Pope disinherit and depose from his Imperial dignity this worthy Prince than whom a greater is not found among Christians nor yet his equal c. De transgressionibus ejus c. Concerning his Faults objected no credit is to be given to his Enemies among whom the Pope is known to be principal To himself he was always an harmless and good neighbor neither have we ever found him faulty in his fidelity concerning Secular Affairs or the Catholick Faith We know he was a gallant Souldier in the Holy War and boldly exposed himself to all dangers both by Sea and Land I find not so much Religion in the Pope who when he ought to have promoted his Interests and have defended him when he was abroad Fighting Gods Battels did yet in his absence wickedly endeavor to supplant and destroy him Boniface the Eighth threatens to depose Philip King of France absolving his Subjects from their Allegiance and afterwards subjects him and his Kingdom to Albert the Emperor John 23d excommunicates Ludovicus Bavarus Benedict the 12th confirms it and then Clement the 6th deposeth him I shall not trouble you with any more particulars although I might further tell you of the Kingdom of Navar given from the French to the King of Spain by the Pope of Our own Kingdoms of England and Ireland made feodatary to the Popes sometimes transferred to the Spaniard other while to the French of several of our Kings inthralled our Nation involved in bloody Wars by these Papal Usurpations But I shall conclude with a Copy of the Grant made by Pope Alexander the 6th Father to Caesar Borgia of the Indies to Ferdinando King of Spain and his Heirs for ever wherein you may read at large the pride of the Popes in the Power they pretend to Caco I protest you astonish me I pray be pleased to read it over Orthod I am ready so to do Now I begin Alexander Bishop Servant of the Servants of God To Our most Dear beloved Son in Christ King Ferdinando and to Our Dear beloved Daughter in Christ Isabella Queen of Castile Legion Aragon Sicily and Granata Most Noble Princes Greeting and Apostolical Benediction AMong other things acceptable to the Divine Majesty and according to our hearty desire this certainly is the chief That the Catholick Faith and Christian Religion especially in this our time may in all places be exalted amplified and enlarged whereby the health of Souls may be procured and the Barbarous Nations subdued and brought to the Faith And therefore whereas by the favor of Gods Clemency although not with equal deserts We are called to this holy Seat of Peter and understanding you to be true Catholick Princes as we have ever known you and as your Noble and Worthy Facts have declared in a manner to the whole World in that with all your study diligence and industry you have spared no Travails Charges or Perils adventuring even the shedding of your own Blood with applying your whole Minds and Endeavors hereunto as your Noble Expeditions atchieved in recovering the Kingdom of Granata from the Tyranny of the Saracens in these our days do plainly declare your Facts with so great Glory of the Divine Name for the whch as we think you worthy so ought we of our own free will favorably to grant you all things whereby you may daily with more fervent Minds to the Honor of God and the enlarging the Christian Empire prosecute your devout and laudable purposes most acceptable to the Immortal God We are credibly informed that whereas of late you were determined to seek and find certain Islands and firm Lands far remote and unknown and not heretofore found by any other to the intent to bring the Inhabitants of the same to Honor our Redeemer and to profess the Catholick Faith You have hitherto been much occupied in the Expugnation and Recovery of the Kingdom of Granata by reason whereof you could not bring your said Laudable purpose to the end desired Nevertheless as it hath pleased the Almighty God the foresaid Kingdom being recovered willing to accomplish your said desire you have not without great Labor Perils and Charges appointed our well beloved Son Christopher Columbus a Man certes well commended as most worthy and apt for such a matter well furnished with Men and Ships and other necessaries to seek by the Sea where hitherto no Man hath sailed such firm Lands and Islands far remote and hitherto unknown who by Gods help making diligent search in the Ocean Seas have found certain remote Islands and firm Land which were not heretofore found by any other in the which as is said many Nations inhabit living peaceably and going naked not accustomed to eat Flesh and as far as your Messengers can conjecture the Nations Inhabiting the foresaid Lands and Islands believe that there is one God Creator in Heaven and seem apt to be brought to the imbracing of the Catholick Faith and to be indued with good manners by reason whereof we may hope that if they be well instructed they may easily be induced to receive the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ We are further advertised that the forenamed Christopher hath now builded and erected a Fortress with good Munition in one of the foresaid principal Islands in the which he hath placed a Garrison of certain of the Christian Men that went thither with him as well to the intent to defend the same as also to search out other Islands and firm Lands remote yet unknown We also understand that in these Lands and Islands is great plenty of Gold and